NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has declared that the United States is locked in a renewed race with China to land astronauts on the Moon, warning that the competition is now a matter of months, not years. Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation on 6 July 2025 — as the US marked the 250th anniversary of its independence — Isaacman said Beijing's intent to reach the Moon is beyond dispute, and Washington must move swiftly to get there first.

Isaacman's Warning on China

'It is not arguably. Like, there -- we are very much in a space race right now, and the Chinese are moving at incredible speeds,' Isaacman said. 'The Chinese will land their taikonauts on the moon. There's no question. The question is, will the United States return before them.'

China has publicly stated its lunar landing goal as before 2030. Isaacman placed the US target at the end of 2028, framing the gap as a sprint rather than a marathon. 'That is months, not years,' he said.

Artemis Timeline and What Comes Next

Isaacman confirmed that Artemis III is planned for next year, to be followed by Artemis IV in 2028, when astronauts are expected to land on the lunar surface after testing new landing systems in Earth orbit. He credited the Trump administration with making lunar exploration a national priority through what he described as a 'historic investment' for the Artemis programme.

'We are going back,' Isaacman said. 'It will be an unbelievable display.' Infrastructure for a lunar base is expected to begin arriving as early as 2027, with equipment — including a lunar terrain vehicle and the beginnings of permanent infrastructure — already in place by the time astronauts land in 2028.

A Permanent Moon Base by the Early 2030s

Beyond the initial crewed landing, NASA's long-term objective is a sustained human presence on the Moon that would serve as a stepping stone for eventual Mars missions. Isaacman projected that by the early 2030s, the Moon would function much like the International Space Station, hosting crews on extended rotations. 'You're going to have crews that are there on pretty extended periods of time, as we learn in that environment and prepare for Mars,' he said.

Private Sector and Blue Origin's Setback

Isaacman also defended the expanding role of commercial companies in America's space programme, arguing that private launch providers have fundamentally transformed the economics of space exploration. He cited an experimental mission to rescue NASA's ageing Swift space telescope as an example of how relatively inexpensive commercial launches can extend the lives of scientific missions that would otherwise require costly replacements.

On the recent launch failure of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, Isaacman said NASA is assisting the company with its investigation while keeping work on future lunar missions on track. 'They're going to solve that,' he said. 'NASA's there to help.'

The Artemis Programme in Context

Artemis is NASA's flagship effort to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era. Unlike Apollo, Artemis is designed to build a sustained lunar presence through international partnerships and commercial operators — and ultimately to lay the groundwork for crewed Mars missions. This is the most explicit public framing yet by a sitting NASA chief of the US-China lunar competition as a direct, time-bound race.